At Falcon Lake, residents fear losing more land for President Trump’s promised wall

The family of Jaime Gonzalez, 83, owned the Rex Theatre and Rex Hall in Old Zapata. With the building of Falcon Dam in the early 1950s, the town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, flooded in 1953, hastening the removal of the townsfolk to present day Zapata. less

The family of Jaime Gonzalez, 83, owned the Rex Theatre and Rex Hall in Old Zapata. With the building of Falcon Dam in the early 1950s, the town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, flooded in 1953, hastening the ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Cormorants rest on branches at Falcon Lake.

Cormorants rest on branches at Falcon Lake.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Fishermen work an area by Falcon Dam. The reservoir, a U.S.-Mexico collaboration, was dedicated in October 1953.

Fishermen work an area by Falcon Dam. The reservoir, a U.S.-Mexico collaboration, was dedicated in October 1953.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Monuments mark international boundaries on Falcon Dam.

Monuments mark international boundaries on Falcon Dam.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Water flows out of a hydroelectric power station on the Mexican side of Falcon Dam.

Water flows out of a hydroelectric power station on the Mexican side of Falcon Dam.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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A fisherman reels in a catfish on the Mexican side of Falcon Dam. Fishing is prohibited off the U.S. side of the dam.

A fisherman reels in a catfish on the Mexican side of Falcon Dam. Fishing is prohibited off the U.S. side of the dam.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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A fisherman boats near Falcon Dam.

A fisherman boats near Falcon Dam.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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A Zapata County Sheriff’s unit patrols FM 496 in the town of Zapata. Beyond the unit and stop signs is the area where the old Zapata town site was located before the flooding of Falcon Lake in the 1950.

A Zapata County Sheriff’s unit patrols FM 496 in the town of Zapata. Beyond the unit and stop signs is the area where the old Zapata town site was located before the flooding of Falcon Lake in the 1950.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Hector Lopez, 62, walks the shores of Falcon Lake. Lopez said that the area is near the site of old Lopeo, a town that flooded when Falcon Dam was built in the 1950s.

Hector Lopez, 62, walks the shores of Falcon Lake. Lopez said that the area is near the site of old Lopeo, a town that flooded when Falcon Dam was built in the 1950s.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Jaime Gonzalez shows a photograph of the remains of old Zapata town. The town reemerges during droughts. The town was submerged in the 1950s after Falcon Dam was built. Gonzalez grew up in old Zapata.

Jaime Gonzalez shows a photograph of the remains of old Zapata town. The town reemerges during droughts. The town was submerged in the 1950s after Falcon Dam was built. Gonzalez grew up in old Zapata.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Gonzalez holds a photograph of residents evacuating old Zapata.

Gonzalez holds a photograph of residents evacuating old Zapata.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of his family salvaging material from their home in old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam was built, creating Falcon Lake. Gonzalez grew up in old Zapata. less

During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of his family salvaging material from their home in old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of residents evacuating old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam was built, creating Falcon Lake. Gonzalez grew up in old Zapata. less

During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of residents evacuating old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of residents evacuating the town of Old Zapata on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of residents evacuating the town of Old Zapata on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of the site where residents from old Zapata were relocated, (present day Zapata). Old Zapata, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam was built, creating Falcon Lake. Gonzalez grew up in old Zapata. less

During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of the site where residents from old Zapata were relocated, (present day Zapata). Old Zapata, on the banks of the Rio ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of the Rex Hall and Rex Theatre in old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam was built, creating Falcon Lake. His father was able to relocate the building to the new site of the present-day Zapata. less

During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, holds a photograph of the Rex Hall and Rex Theatre in old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, shows a photographer of the family home in old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam was built, creating Falcon Lake. Gonzalez grew up in old Zapata. less

During an interview on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jaime Gonzalez, 83, shows a photographer of the family home in old Zapata. The town, on the banks of the Rio Grande, was submerged in the 1950Õs after Falcon Dam ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Museum of History Director Hildegardo E. Flores talks about an exhibit of photographs of Guerrero Viejo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Guerrero Viejo is on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake and was submerged when the dam was built in the 1950Õs. less

Zapata County Museum of History Director Hildegardo E. Flores talks about an exhibit of photographs of Guerrero Viejo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Guerrero Viejo is on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake and was ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Museum of History Director Hildegardo Flores displays an exhibit illustrating the flooding of town sites along the Rio Grande when the lake was filled.

Zapata County Museum of History Director Hildegardo Flores displays an exhibit illustrating the flooding of town sites along the Rio Grande when the lake was filled.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Humberto Gonzalez Jr., 84, talks about life in Old Zapata, which had to be relocated because of the lake.

Humberto Gonzalez Jr., 84, talks about life in Old Zapata, which had to be relocated because of the lake.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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A family fishes the waters of Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas, , Sunday, April 30, 2017.

A family fishes the waters of Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas, , Sunday, April 30, 2017.

Photo: Photos By Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

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A woman tries you luck while fishing at Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017.

A woman tries you luck while fishing at Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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The Diaz cousins from Lopeo, Texas play by the docks at the Falcon Lake public park in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017.

The Diaz cousins from Lopeo, Texas play by the docks at the Falcon Lake public park in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Meisy Melgoza, 33, center, entertains family and friends at the familyÕs lakeside property in the Siesta Shores neighborhood in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017. The neighborhood is by the shores of Falcon Lake. Melgoza and her husband, Carlos Talamante, 50, live in the same neighborhood but in a house with no lakefront views. Talamante bought the property several years ago and installed the pool and fixed the palapa that now serves as their entertainment center. less

Meisy Melgoza, 33, center, entertains family and friends at the familyÕs lakeside property in the Siesta Shores neighborhood in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017. The neighborhood is by the shores of ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Despite incidents of violence that have occurred near Falcon Lake, people still are drawn to it. This is at a public park there.

Despite incidents of violence that have occurred near Falcon Lake, people still are drawn to it. This is at a public park there.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Kyvelie Lopez, 5, and Ernesto Alonzo Almaguer, 3, play in the waters of Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017.

Kyvelie Lopez, 5, and Ernesto Alonzo Almaguer, 3, play in the waters of Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas, Sunday, April 30, 2017.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, herds cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle during drought season. less

Ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, herds cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Zapata County ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, left, and ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, herd cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, left, and ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, herd cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, left, pens calves as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, left, pens calves as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell herds cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle during drought season. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell herds cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell herds cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle during drought season. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell herds cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, second from left, and ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, second from right, herd cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle during drought season. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, second from left, and ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, second from right, herd cattle as U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinate them at the ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, moves cattle out to pastures after U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinated them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle during drought season. less

Ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, moves cattle out to pastures after U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinated them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, moves cattle out to pastures after U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinated them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell owns the ranch. He ranches 1,000 acres by Falcon Lake and counts on the water from the lake for his cattle during drought season. less

Ranch hand Francisco ÒPanchoÓ Marquez, 72, moves cattle out to pastures after U.S. Department of Agriculture tick inspectors vaccinated them at the Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell closes a gate to a pasture at Falcon Lake, at his Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell leases the lakebed from the government. The lake is less than 40-percent full exposing the bed that provides rich grazing for cattle. Behind him is the Rio Grande. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell closes a gate to a pasture at Falcon Lake, at his Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell leases the lakebed from the government. The lake is ... more

Photo: Photos By Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell closes a gate to a pasture at Falcon Lake, at his Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell leases the lakebed from the government. The lake is less than 40-percent full exposing the bed that provides rich grazing for cattle. Behind him is the Rio Grande. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell closes a gate to a pasture at Falcon Lake, at his Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Rathmell leases the lakebed from the government. The lake is ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell checks out the Rio Grande by his Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Falcon Lake is at less than 40-percent full and Rathmell is standing on land that would be full part of the lake. less

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell checks out the Rio Grande by his Rathmell San Miguel Ranch in Zapata County, Monday, May 1, 2017. Falcon Lake is at less than 40-percent full and Rathmell is standing on land ... more

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Hector Lopez, 62, stands on the shores of Falcon Lake, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Lopez said that the area is near the site of old Lopeo, a town that flooded when Falcon Dam was built in the 1950Õs.

Hector Lopez, 62, stands on the shores of Falcon Lake, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Lopez said that the area is near the site of old Lopeo, a town that flooded when Falcon Dam was built in the 1950Õs.

Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

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Falcon Dam

Falcon Dam

Photo: UTSA Special Collections

At Falcon Lake, residents fear losing more land for President Trump’s promised wall

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ZAPATA COUNTY — The proposed border wall, and the expectation the federal government will condemn private property for its construction, is an uncomfortable reminder here of a massive land taking by the federal government more than 60 years ago that displaced most of the residents of this sparsely populated county.

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To create the Falcon International Reservoir in the 1950s, the federal government used eminent domain to take 85,000 acres in Zapata County.

The condemnations included a string of communities along the Rio Grande, home to the majority of the county’s 4,400 residents who were moved to new town sites on higher ground.

Unexpected rains in 1953 caused the communities of Lopeño and Falcon to flood before the new town sites were completed.

Families pulled belongings out of their homes and loaded them into trucks and boats as the rising floodwaters covered the floors.

The county seat of Zapata was not inundated for another year, but fear of what happened downstream caused many residents in summer 1953 to pack up and leave to the new town site 4 miles west.

The surprise flood left the government unprepared for the relocation, and many residents ended up in tents on unpaved streets without sewer lines.

“We were angry because these things were happening to us,” said Humberto Gonzalez, 85, a retired principal in Zapata. “The government told us it would be years before we would have to move.”

Resentment lingers not only over the forced relocation and the period of living like refugees in their own country, but also over what many here say was inadequate compensation for condemned property.

Along with their homes, farmers lost the fertile lands they owned in the river vega, the floodplain, and their water rights — land owned by the International Boundary and Water Commission now sits between private property and the waterline.

For those like Jaime Gonzalez, 83, Humberto Gonzalez’s brother, President Donald Trump's talk of building a wall reopens the wounds caused by the loss of Old Zapata, Lopeño and the other small communities along the Rio Grande. Gonzalez’s family members were able to relocate some commercial buildings they owned in Old Zapata, but lost their farmland along the river.

“What we’re doing is … giving Mexico our land,” Gonzalez said. “We need the water for our cattle, and we have a lot of game that, you know, they go to the river and a lot of endangered species that need to go to the river. It’s a very difficult situation and I hope the government really thinks this out.”

“It’d be the second time that they punched you. The Bible says that when they slap you on one cheek, you turn the other one. Well this would be the other one,” he added with a laugh.

The location of the wall, and how much money Trump will get to build it, remains unclear. Congress denied his request for wall funds in this year's supplemental budget request, but he's asked for $1.6 billion as well as money to hire 20 new attorneys and staff to pursue eminent domain claims in 2018.

The wall isn't the only piece of border security infrastructure that requires land condemnation.

In April, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit to take a plot of land near Brownsville to construct a surveillance tower. In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol, released a request for proposals to build a radar tower on private land just on the other side of the Webb-Zapata county line.

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell said opposition to the border wall is strong among the county’s population of 14,000. He's met with homeland security officials and was told “nothing is on the table and nothing is off the table.”

“We’ve sacrificed plenty, our residents of Zapata,” Rathmell said. “Most of our good farmland is below the lake. My mom’s 92. She remembers them having to leave their homes in Old Zapata and move to New Zapata, which was basically a bulldozed site with no streets, and live in tents for many months while they built their homes.”

Rising waters

Jaime Gonzalez was going through Army training at Fort Bliss in El Paso in August 1953 when he heard about the flooding back home. He and two friends took a taxi from El Paso to San Antonio, then another from San Antonio to Old Zapata.

His father grew up in Lopeño, the community nearest to the dam, and had left Old Zapata to help with the evacuation.

Trucks rushed to the flood line to load up people and their belongings, and boats launched downstream approached the partly submerged town to help.

“Water was filling up the houses,” said Hector Lopez Jr., a retired educator whose father, a well-known justice of the peace, was from Lopeño. “So what do you do? You grab your most valued possessions and you leave. A lot of people lost a lot of their belongings.”

Upstream in Old Zapata, residents began scrambling to move their belongings. The government eventually dynamited Spanish colonial-era homes in the town. Newer pier and beam buildings were lifted onto trailers and transported to the new town site.

The construction of the dam had been long-anticipated.

In 1944, the U.S. and Mexican governments agreed to a series of dams on the Rio Grande to control flooding, a perennial problem at the time. Zapata was represented in Congress by Lloyd Bentsen, a Valley native who went on to become a well-known U.S. senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee, and many who remember the creation of Falcon Lake believe residents here suffered to improve irrigation for the farmers downstream.

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower came to dedicate the dam, he was met by Zapata County residents holding signs that said, “We lost our homes to the Falcon Dam.”

The government had agreed to rebuild some communal buildings, like the school and the courthouse, but construction, along with compensation for those who lost land, dragged on.

“As of the early part of 1955, five years after the relocation process started, many of the projects were only partially completed,” Laredo native J. Gilberto Quezada wrote in his book “Border Boss: Manuel B. Bravo and Zapata County.” “The elementary school, albeit finished, had no furniture; the proposed middle school was still in the blueprint stages; the courthouse remained unfurnished; exchange of irrigable lands was on the back burner; the old roads that gave landowners access to their property needed repairs; and of course, the question of replacement value of homes was still unresolved.”

Many people in Zapata County became migrant workers after losing their farms, said Quezada, who is from Laredo but married the granddaughter of Bravo, a former Zapata County judge.

“It must have been a very traumatic experience, having to learn a new way of putting bread on the table,” he said. “It must have been a very horrific experience, right, to make a living, when you have a family of three or four or six, trying to provide for all of them. That must have been very tough.”

Over at the Zapata County Museum of History, director Hildegardo Flores, a self-proclaimed “child of the river,” is raising money for a replica of the kiosko that once stood in the Old Zapata town square.

“It was the center of town, and any activities that were going that were important to the community would center around the kiosko,” Flores said. “It was a beautiful structure.”

Fair compensation

Even those who resent how the government treated them in the 1950s agree they’re more likely to get a fair shake today.

The mostly poor and almost exclusively Mexican-American residents of Zapata County had little political clout in the mid-20th century, Jaime Gonzalez said.

At the time of the land condemnation for Falcon Lake, the federal government “would offer very little over here,” he said. “So you don’t accept what they wanted to pay, and their answer to that would be, ‘You don’t like it, take us to court.’ Well heck, we were very few professional people over here. We were farmers and ranchers. We didn’t have, like now, we have attorneys, we have doctors, we have engineers. Our kids are educated, but at that time we didn’t even have money.”

Lopez notes the county now is represented by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo who has familial ties to Zapata.

“Things have changed in 65 years,” he said. “Back then, the mentality was, ‘Those people are Mexican-Americans.’ Now things are different.”

Although he thinks the region has more clout in Congress, Lopez said he doesn’t think Trump has the region’s best interests at heart.

“He’s got no sense of reality about what’s going on over here. He’s got no sense of reality about building a wall,” Lopez said.

Cutting off access

The existing Texas border fence ends in Hidalgo County, 65 miles southeast of Zapata. The Rio Grande winds mostly unfenced for nearly 1,000 miles before the barrier picks up again outside El Paso.

Homeland Security Department officials haven’t said how much new border wall they plan to build, but they have said the first stretches will go in the Rio Grande Valley, likely in Hidalgo County and Starr County, where Falcon Lake begins.

Construction of a fence or wall in Zapata County faces unique hurdles.

The dam creates a floodplain that extends miles up the arroyos feeding Falcon Lake. The International Boundary and Water Commission owns the floodplain, but tracing the contours of the lake would be difficult. Building a wall in a straight line would mean cutting across private property.

The county for decades has relied on oil and gas production to drive its economy, but as the wells have dried up, Falcon Lake has become important for local businesses.

Despite high-profile border security incidents — in 2010, tourist David Michael Hartley was killed while jet skiing on the lake in the ruins of Guerrero Viejo; 13 people, one of them a Mexican marine, were killed in a 2011 shootout on the lake; and last year, 26-year-old fisherman Oscar Garza was shot and killed — Falcon Lake, known for its prized largemouth bass, still draws tourists.

“Cutting off access to the lake would really do a lot of harm to our county,” Rathmell said. “The fishing in the lake is so good that fishermen want to come back.”

The IBWC leases for grazing land that’s uncovered when the lake is low, and ranchers, including Rathmell, run cattle down to the water’s edge. Lopez’s brother-in-law does the same with horses on their family plot near old Lopeño, letting them water at the lake.

“Most of us are ranchers,” Rathmell said. “We still work the land. I can’t imagine being able to raise cattle if they took our water source away.”

Rathmell said the county supports border security — he floated the idea of putting surveillance equipment on county infrastructure — but he said the idea of the wall is unpopular.

“As far as the wall, the court and I would say all the residents in Zapata feel it’s not practicable or feasible to build a wall in Zapata County,” he said.

Not everyone in the county is opposed to the wall. Adrian Ramirez, the 66-year-old former head of the Zapata County Waterworks, lives just above the condemnation line. When the lake is low, he looks over acres of undeveloped brush land. He grew up on the property and remembers residents of Old Zapata standing near his house to watch the town finally flood.

His property also is on a favorite trafficking route. Drug smugglers have killed 12 of his dogs, Ramirez said. Border Patrol has increased its presence and installed sensors, but he still sometimes feels unsafe.